Containers, in particular relatively small hand-held beverage containers, have come into wide-spread use. The fabrication of single use, disposable containers and lids presents different problems compared to the fabrication of reusable containers and lids suitable for indefinite reuse with repeated cycles of use, washing, drying (at least of exterior surfaces) and refilling. In such containers, typically the cap (or lid) has a cylindrical rim portion that is threadably engageable with a corresponding lip portion located about a mouth at one end of a container. To open and remove the cap from the container mouth, or to engage the cap with the container mouth and thereby close the container, two hands are necessary, with one hand grasping the container and the other the cap.
In many situations, it is not practical or safe to commit both hands of a user to opening and/or closing a cap relative to a container (for example, while driving an automobile). Thus, it would be desirable to have a reusable container and coacting removable cap combination where the cap is provided with a liquid dispensing aperture that is openable and closable, if desired, using only one hand without affecting the closed relationship of the cap relative to the container. Thereby, the user's other hand is free for other operations.
Although various container cap structures have previously been proposed that include both a dispensing aperture and a closure mechanism for opening and closing of the dispensing aperture, such prior art structures typically have components and features that are cumbersome or difficult to use and really require more than one hand for safe operation or use of the closure mechanism. Also, such prior art structures typically are not well adapted for indefinite reuse cycles. Typically, prior art structures have closure mechanisms that may interfere with use of the dispensing aperture.
The present invention aims to provide an improved reusable container cap for a container. The cap has an aperture that is associated with a closure mechanism that is easily openable and reclosable using, if desired, only a finger of one hand.